About This Show

Listen Whenever

Related Shows

Most Recent Episode

Episode 137: Coups Are Back in Vogue - Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast

3 days ago
·
29 minutes

It’s been a while since someone made a play to seize power from within. That changes this week.
* Transcript
* Map of Key Locations
* Graph of Key Characters and Relationships
Transcript
PDF version
Welcome to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms Podcast. This is episode 137.
Last time, the Wei emperor Cao Rui had died, and his 8-year-old son, Cao Fang (1), ascended to the throne. Being 8, he needed some adults to help him manage things. Those adults were Sima Yi and Cao Shuang, the son of Sima Yi’s former colleague and sometimes-frenemy Cao Zhen. Things started out well enough between Sima Yi and Cao Shuang, until somebody reminded Cao Shuang how Sima Yi had showed up his late father time after time, though really, it was his father who usually did the heavy lifting in humiliating himself.
In any case, Cao Shuang decided to elbow Sima Yi out of the way, and he did so in a very cloak-and-dagger way. He convinced the emperor to promote Sima Yi to imperial guardian, a lofty title that just so happened to carry zero military authority. So Cao Shuang, as regent, hoarded command of the army, and with that came total control of the court.
In response, Sima Yi, well, just decided to stay home on account of … umm … illness. And his two sons also retreated from public life, settling into private lives of leisure instead. So now Cao Shuang, with a firm grasp on control of the court, spent his days drinking and making merry with his entourage. Their clothing and daily wares were the equal of those used by the court. Whenever a tribute of exotic curios arrived for the emperor, Cao Shuang skimmed the best for himself before sending the rest to the emperor. His residence was filled with pretty women, and even that wasn’t enough. A eunuch from the inner palace wanted to suck up to Cao Shuang, so he picked seven or eight of the late emperor’s attending ladies and secretly sent them to Cao Shuang. As you can imagine, getting busy with women who had served your former lord was a hug